Nextcloud Docker Setup

This guide provides a complete Docker Compose setup for Nextcloud with MariaDB database, Redis caching, and Collabora Online for document editing.

This template sets up a full Nextcloud stack suitable for production use with proper caching and database optimization.

Docker Compose Configuration

Complete Stack

Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following configuration:

version: "3.9"

services:
  nextcloud:
    image: nextcloud:latest
    container_name: nextcloud
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "45289:80"  # Web access to Nextcloud
    environment:
      - REDIS_HOST=redis
      - NEXTCLOUD_DATA_DIR=/var/www/html/data
      - PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT=1000M
      - PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT=1024M
      - PHP_MAX_FILE_UPLOADS=100
      - NEXTCLOUD_HOSTNAME=cloud.example.com
      - domain=cloud.example.com
    volumes:
      - /mnt/cloud/Nextcloud:/var/www/html
    depends_on:
      - app
      - redis
    networks:
      - default

  app:  # MariaDB
    image: linuxserver/mariadb:10.11.8
    container_name: mariadb
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=your-password
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=your-root-password
      - MYSQL_USER=ncloud-admin
      - PGID=1000
      - PUID=1000
      - TZ=Europe/Berlin
    ports:
      - "3306:3306"
    volumes:
      - /DATA/AppData/mariadb/config:/config
    networks:
      - default

  redis:
    image: redis:latest
    container_name: redis
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    volumes:
      - /DATA/AppData/redis/data:/data
    networks:
      - default

  collabora:
    image: collabora/code
    container_name: collabora
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - domain=https://collabora.example.com
      - username=your-username
      - password=your-password
      - DONT_GENERATE=true
    ports:
      - "9980:9980"
    volumes:
      - /DATA/AppData/collabora:/var/lib/loolwsd
    networks:
      - default

networks:
  default:

Environment Variables

Nextcloud Container

Variable	Description	Example
`REDIS_HOST`	Redis server hostname	`redis`
`NEXTCLOUD_DATA_DIR`	Data directory path	`/var/www/html/data`
`PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT`	PHP memory limit	`1000M`
`PHP_UPLOAD_LIMIT`	File upload limit	`1024M`
`NEXTCLOUD_HOSTNAME`	Your domain name	`cloud.example.com`

MariaDB Container

Variable	Description	Example
`MYSQL_DATABASE`	Database name	`nextcloud`
`MYSQL_USER`	Database user	`ncloud-admin`
`MYSQL_PASSWORD`	User password	`secure-password`
`MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD`	Root password	`root-password`

Collabora Container

Variable	Description	Example
`domain`	Nextcloud domain	`https://cloud.example.com`
`username`	Admin username	`admin`
`password`	Admin password	`secure-password`

Volume Mapping

Ensure the host directories exist and have proper permissions before starting the containers.

Required Directories

# Create necessary directories
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/cloud/Nextcloud
sudo mkdir -p /DATA/AppData/mariadb/config
sudo mkdir -p /DATA/AppData/redis/data
sudo mkdir -p /DATA/AppData/collabora

# Set proper ownership (adjust UID/GID as needed)
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /mnt/cloud/Nextcloud
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /DATA/AppData/

Deployment Steps

Prepare Environment

# Create project directory
mkdir nextcloud-docker
cd nextcloud-docker

# Create docker-compose.yml file
nano docker-compose.yml

Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file for sensitive data:

# Database credentials
MYSQL_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=your-root-password

# Collabora credentials
COLLABORA_USERNAME=admin
COLLABORA_PASSWORD=collabora-password

# Domain configuration
NEXTCLOUD_DOMAIN=cloud.example.com
COLLABORA_DOMAIN=collabora.example.com

Start Services

# Start all services
docker-compose up -d

# Check status
docker-compose ps

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f nextcloud

Initial Setup

Access Nextcloud at http://your-server:45289
Create admin account
Configure database connection:
- Database type: MySQL/MariaDB
- Database name: nextcloud
- Database user: ncloud-admin
- Database password: (from your configuration)
- Database host: mariadb:3306

Post-Installation Configuration

Enable Redis Caching

Add to your Nextcloud config/config.php:

'memcache.local' => '\OC\Memcache\APCu',
'memcache.distributed' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis',
'memcache.locking' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis',
'redis' => array(
  'host' => 'redis',
  'password' => '',
  'port' => 6379,
),

Configure Collabora Online

Install the "Collabora Online" app from the Nextcloud app store
Go to Settings → Administration → Collabora Online
Set server URL: http://collabora:9980

Maintenance Commands

Backup

# Backup Nextcloud data
docker-compose exec nextcloud tar -czf /tmp/nextcloud-backup.tar.gz /var/www/html

# Backup database
docker-compose exec mariadb mysqldump -u root -p nextcloud > nextcloud-db-backup.sql

Updates

# Update containers
docker-compose pull
docker-compose up -d

# Run Nextcloud upgrade
docker-compose exec nextcloud sudo -u www-data php occ upgrade

Monitoring

# Check container status
docker-compose ps

# View resource usage
docker stats

# Check logs
docker-compose logs -f --tail=100 nextcloud

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Permission Issues

# Fix file permissions
docker-compose exec nextcloud chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

Database Connection Issues

Verify MariaDB container is running
Check database credentials in config.php
Ensure network connectivity between containers

Performance Optimization

# Increase PHP memory limit
docker-compose exec nextcloud sed -i 's/memory_limit = .*/memory_limit = 1024M/' /usr/local/etc/php/php.ini

# Restart container
docker-compose restart nextcloud

Security Considerations

Use strong passwords for all services
Enable HTTPS with reverse proxy (nginx/traefik)
Regular backups of data and database
Keep containers updated regularly
Restrict network access to necessary ports only

Next Steps

Configure Nextcloud Settings
OCC Command Reference
Set up reverse proxy with SSL
Configure automated backups
Monitor system resources and logs

Nextcloud Docker Setup

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